If you are a family member of one of the sailors of the USS Indianapolis Final Sailing Crew, please contact the USS Indianapolis CA35 Second Watch Organization. We are the descendants of these great heroes and our mission is to perpetuate the memory. Email address is IndySecondWatch@yahoo.com
Thank you,
Maria Eck Bullard
Daughter of USS Indianapolis Survivor Harold Eck
Chairman, USS Indianapolis Second Watch Organization

This is moving and awe-inspiring. From what I can see, she still wears her coat of gray paint and is sitting upright on the ocean floor. I suspected she would be upright, since the USS Quincy, torpedoed and sunk at the battle of Savo Island, righted herself after she capsized.

Correction: In a CNN video I saw what appeared to be a side scan sonar of the shipwreck, hence my comment about her being upright. But the pictures appear to be debris surrounding a piece of the Indy's bow, with the remainder of the wreck remaining to be located.

I still cannot make out what condition the ship is in, whether she is largely intact or in pieces. I hope she is largely intact, like the USS Quincy is. They are finding intact 40mm and 5 inch gun mounts on what appears to be at least pieces of the Indianapolis.

The image of the 5 incher reminded me of a view of an anti-aircraft gun on the wreck of the Bismarck.

More and more, I am reminded of the wreck of the USS Yorktown (CV-5). That gallant ship also rests three miles deep and is in remarkable shape as well. In fact, the hue of the two ship's paint schemes is remarkably identical. The Indy is also starting to seem a lot like another cruiser I keep referencing, the Quincy.

You're welcome, John. The special was very tastefully done, but I am outraged that Richard Hulver dared to say Captain McVay "probably should have been zig-zagging." Doesn't he know McVay was allowed to zig-zag at discretion on the Indy's final voyage?! Hulver also does not seem to remember Captain Oliver Naquin caused the whole disaster to happen by not only failing to inform McVay of the Imperial Navy's "Tamon" submarine attack force but also of the sinking of the USS Underhill by one of those subs days before the Indy arrived in the Marianas. I am appalled some historians dare to speak against McVay in any way, shape, or form after his posthumous exoneration. Instead of musing over zig-zagging, Mr. Hulver, muse over why Naquin blundered so bad with that vital intelligence, a blunder that killed over 800 officers and men.

I watched the special, and my response is WOW. It was fantastic, well done, and respectfully. I was glued to the screen. The ship is in remarkable condition, her bulkheads intact. she didn't crush from the pressure at depth most likely due to her being filled with water through her bow damage. My uncle "Red" Scanlan was on her that day, he survived the sinking, ordeal in the water, and was rescued. He pasted in 1948 and I sadly never had the chance to spend any time with him. I had a copy of his statement on the sinking given at debriefing. as follows(best that I can remember)

"I was on watch at "Sky forward" when we were hit. The first explosion knocked me to the deck and the second threw me into the air and back to the deck. I checked in on my phones and was asked to see what the damage was. I said the bow had been blown off. They said to abandon ship, I took my phones off and walked off the ship. The deck was already awash"